Projekt:European Sociolinguistics/Connotations/2

This subproject aimed at finding out to what degree word-associations are culture-bound. A questionnaire working with a so-called Likert scale was created and sent out to people from selected countries. People were presented 7 English words, e.g. democracy plus a series of oppositions, e.g. "chaos-order". They were asked to connect the words to the elements of the oppositions: this means they had to say, e.g., whether they associate the word democracy "strongly with chaos (1)", "rather with chaos (2)", "rather with order (3)", or "strongly with order (4)". The following sections show the results giving the arithmetic means and comments on them.

NOTE: The total number of participants is 243 and its division into the country-groups is the following: France: 79, Brazil: 44, Italy (north): 35, Belgium: 15, Netherlands: 14, Canada: 14, Spain: 12, Austria: 9, Hungary: 6, Sweden: 5, Italy (south): 5, Australia: 5

democracy

connotations (1-2-3-4) \ country	chaos : order	simplicity : complexity	integration : differentiation	freedom : restrictions	individuality : community	emotion : reason	egoism : altruism
Australia	3.00	2.80	1.80	1.20	2.60	3.00	2.20
Brazil	2.56	2.77	2.25	2.14	2.59	2.63	2.43
Canada	3.57	1.71	1.36	1.29	2.21	3.21	3.50
Austria	3.11	2.89	2.33	1.78	2.67	3.11	2.56
Belgium	2.87	3.00	2.07	1.80	2.53	3.00	2.73
France	2.89	2.83	2.09	1.83	2.49	3.03	2.76
Hungary	2.17	3.33	2.67	2.67	2.17	2.67	1.67
Italy (north)	2.91	2.77	2.33	1.74	2.79	2.97	2.80
Italy (south)	2.60	2.60	2.40	1.60	3.00	3.00	3.00
Netherlands	3.29	3.29	2.93	1.50	2.29	2.86	2.71
Spain	2.75	2.75	1.67	1.67	2.67	2.83	2.33
Sweden	3.20	3.60	1.60	1.40	2.20	3.00	3.00

Comment: Non-European vs. European countries

The first thing to note is that Canada and Hungary are in opposition . For Canada democracy is associated with order, simplicity, integration, freedom and altruism. On the contrary, for Hungary democracy is connected to chaos, complexity, differentiation, restriction, egoism. Furthermore, Hungary is the only country that links democracy with chaos and restrictions, Canada is the only one that associates democracy with simplicity, while not only Hungary but also Netherlands links democracy with differentiation. It is considered as individuality by France, Netherlands, Sweden and also Hungary and Canada. We can also note that democracy means reason to all the countries.

English

connotations (1-2-3-4) \ country	chaos : order	simplicity : complexity	integration : differentiation	freedom : restrictions	individuality : community	emotion : reason	egoism : altruism
Australia	3	1,40	1,80	1,60	1,60	2,40	2
Brazil	2,53	2,33	2,19	2,68	2,69	2,86	2,38
Canada	3,07	2,57	2,07	2,07	3	3	2,92
Austria	3	2	2,22	2,22	2,44	2,56	2,56
Belgium	3,07	1,93	1,67	2	3	2,93	2,43
France	2,81	2,26	2,13	2,09	2,71	2,77	2,49
Hungary	2,50	2	1,67	2,50	3	2,50	2
Italy (north)	3,12	2,40	2,06	2,21	2,40	2,82	2,38
Italy (south)	2,80	1,80	2,20	2,60	2,60	2,60	2,80
Netherlands	3,57	2,71	2,21	2	2,86	2,86	2,71
Spain	2,83	2,17	2,08	2,08	3	2,92	2,42
Sweden	3,20	2	1,40	1,80	3,60	2,80	2,40

English is regarded as something connected to order and integration by all the above countries. It is then connected to simplicity, freedom, community and reason by the majority of them. We can see that southern and northern Italy may differ a lot. Note for instance that for southern Italians, English is linked to restrictions and community, whether for northern Italians it has to do with freedom and individuality. We can also notice that Australia is often at one extreme compared to the other countries (that of simplicity, freedom, individuality and emotion). This could happen because of its close relationship to the UK.

monarchy

connotations (1-2-3-4) \ country	chaos : order	simplicity : complexity	integration : differentiation	freedom : restrictions	individuality : community	emotion : reason	egoism : altruism
Australia	2.75	2.40	2.60	2.60	2.00	2.80	2.20
Brazil	2.66	2.63	2.82	2.98	2.14	2.67	2.00
Canada	2.07	3.07	2.93	3.07	1.93	2.14	1.86
Austria	2.56	2.33	3.00	3.11	2.33	2.00	2.00
Belgium	2.92	2.33	2.40	2.73	2.33	2.00	2.20
France	2.81	2.61	3.18	3.43	2.23	2.57	1.74
Hungary	2.83	2.83	2.83	3.00	3.17	2.83	2.33
Italy (north)	3.03	2.09	2.71	2.91	2.09	2.63	1.97
Italy (south)	3.00	2.20	2.20	2.60	2.60	2.80	2.60
Netherlands	3.21	2.31	2.21	2.43	3.21	2.38	2.79
Spain	2.58	2.17	3.08	2.50	2.33	2.08	1.82
Sweden	3.40	2.60	3.00	2.40	2.75	2.80	2.00

People who come from the four countries in which there is a monarchy (Belgium, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden) seem to have in general a positive imagine of this form of government. On the contrary, French and Canadian people associates to monarchy rather negative connotations. It should be noted that this word is strongly connected with restrictions and egoism in France. Another thing to note is the great number of Netherlanders who associate to monarchy a high level of altruism. In some cases the answers of people living in North Italy and those living in South Italy are very similar, whereas they are quite different when they regard integration/differentiation, individuality/community and egoism/altruism. From a general point of view the majority of people who filled up the questionnaire, no matter where they come from, have an idea of monarchy with order (except Canada), restrictions (except Netherlands and Sweden) and egoism (except South Italy and Netherlands).

school

connotations (1-2-3-4) \ country	chaos : order	simplicity : complexity	integration : differentiation	freedom : restrictions	individuality : community	emotion : reason	egoism : altruism
Australia	3,00	2,40	2,00	2,80	2,60	2,40	2,20
Brazil	2,52	2,48	2,20	2,50	2,89	2,81	2,72
Canada	3,29	2,21	1,93	2,21	2,29	3,08	2,93
Austria	2,89	2,78	2,33	2,67	3,11	2,89	2,79
Belgium	2,93	2,47	2,13	2,60	2,93	3,20	2,60
France	2,88	2,75	1,77	2,44	2,92	3,14	2,76
Hungary	2,67	3,50	2,50	2,50	3,17	2,33	2,83
Italy (north)	2,65	2,71	2,14	2,37	2,76	2,91	2,77
Italy (south)	3,20	3,00	1,80	2,20	3,20	3,40	3,20
Netherlands	3,50	3,00	2,36	3,00	3,00	3,43	2,93
Spain	2,58	2,75	2,25	2,33	3,08	3,08	3,17
Sweden	2,80	3,20	2,40	2,20	2,40	3,20	2,40

taxes

connotations (1-2-3-4) \ country	chaos : order	simplicity : complexity	integration : differentiation	freedom : restrictions	individuality : community	emotion : reason	egoism : altruism
Australia (5 p.)	2,40	3,00	2,20	2,80	2,40	2,20	3,00
Brazil (44 p.)	2,12	2,98	2,88	3,19	2,40	3,02	2,19
Canada (14 p.)	3,00	3,14	2,50	3,07	3,29	3,00	2,93
Austria (9 p.)	3,22	3,22	2,56	3,22	2,78	3,11	2,78
Belgium (15 p.)	2,53	3,13	2,73	3,20	2,53	3,27	2,53
France (76 p.)	2,95	3,28	3,01	3,33	2,91	3,38	2,76
Hungary (6 p.)	1,80	4,00	3,00	3,80	3,20	3,20	1,80
Italy (north) (35 p.)	2,18	3,43	3,03	3,37	2,63	3,09	2,20
Italy (south) (5 p.)	3,00	3,00	2,20	2,80	3,60	3,20	3,00
Netherlands (14 p.)	3,36	3,57	3,07	3,64	2,79	3,57	2,79
Spain (12 p.)	2,67	2,83	3,00	3,17	2,55	3,25	2,33
Sweden (5 p.)	3,20	3,80	2,20	2,80	3,00	2,80	3,20

The first noticeable thing is that there are differences between North and South Italy; for example, North Italy connects rather chaos with taxes (2,18), whereas South Italy rather thinks of order (3,00). However, the reason for this might be the small number of informants from South Italy (5 persons compared to 35 persons from North Italy).

Furthermore, Hungarians tend to have stronger connotations with the English word taxes in comparison to all other nations (e.g.: chaos-order: 1,80; simplicity-complexity: 4,00).

Additionally, Australia is the only nation that associates taxes rather with emotion. All other nations combine taxes with reason.

In general, all nations consider taxes to be (rather) complex. Simplicity-complexity is the only category in which all nations are unanimous (of course, there are differences concerning the degree of complexity among the answers).

Finally, one cannot group the given answers as to taxes according to European versus Non-European countries.

university professor

connotations (1-2-3-4) \ country	chaos : order	simplicity : complexity	integration : differentiation	freedom : restrictions	individuality : community	emotion : reason	egoism : altruism
Australia	2,60	2,80	2,80	2,60	1,60	2,40	2,40
Canada	2,93	2,29	2,29	2,29	2,57	2,86	2,86
Austria	2,56	3,22	2,33	2,33	2,22	2,56	2,44
Belgium	2,93	2,87	2,73	2,53	2,53	3,07	2,47
France	3,05	3,07	2,35	2,35	2,80	3,31	2,96
Hungary	3,33	3,67	2,33	2,00	1,67	2,50	2,33
Italy (north)	2,74	2,91	2,63	2,47	2,23	2,91	2,65
Italy (south)	2,60	2,80	3,00	2,20	1,80	2,40	2,60
Netherlands	2,71	3,50	2,62	2,29	2,00	3,64	2,93
Spain	2,75	3,33	2,50	2,83	2,17	3,08	2,50
Sweden	2,60	3,80	2,60	1,80	1,80	3,40	2,40

work

connotations (1-2-3-4) \ country	chaos : order	simplicity : complexity	integration : differentiation	freedom : restrictions	individuality : community	emotion : reason	egoism : altruism
Australia	2.00	3.00	2.20	3.20	1.60	2.20	2.60
Brazil	2.64	2.72	2.59	2.72	2.49	2.93	2.34
Canada	2.92	2.36	2.07	2.21	2.79	2.93	2.86
Austria	2.67	2.67	2.33	2.89	2.78	2.78	2.33
Belgium	3.27	2.67	2.33	2.87	2.33	2.80	2.27
France	3.15	2.97	2.09	2.49	2.49	3.16	2.36
Hungary	2.50	3.17	3.00	3.17	2.50	2.67	2.50
Italy (north)	2.71	3.03	2.66	2.66	2.53	2.88	2.31
Italy (south)	2.80	3.40	2.60	2.80	2.60	2.60	2.20
Netherlands	2.86	3.43	2.93	2.79	3.00	3.00	2.93
Spain	2.42	3.08	3.17	3.09	2.50	3.08	2.08
Sweden	3.60	3.20	2.00	2.40	2.20	3.20	2.20

Supposing the Australian economy differs from e.g. the European, we might understand the discrepancing figures towards individuality, emotion and egoism as a consequence of a very individualistic work an business organisation.